Director: Rian Johnson Writer: Rian Johnson Released: November 2019 Starring: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Christopher Plummer
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I love whodunnits!
My friend and I have read multiple Agatha Christie novels, and while we always try to figure out the culprit before the end, we never seem to be able to get into Agatha Christie’s head.
After hearing that Knives Out was a sort of Agatha Christie mystery, I decided that I had to watch it.
While it has all the tropes of a murder-mystery, it is in fact far from being a classic or typical murder-mystery.
As a result, I found it a tiny bit disappointing. Because Agatha Christie novels are perfect in every way, and Knives Out seems to try to one up her… Which is impossible to do without the story becoming over complicated or outlandish.
The thing is, the entire plot is given away too early – or at least that’s what I thought. As though we were told too much too soon. Of course, it all makes sense when the final twist at the end knocks you off your feet. But still, I was looking forward to be taken along for the Agatha Christie ride.
Nevertheless! The enormous amount of twists and turns are sure to keep you hooked, so long as your suspension of disbelief remains.
I loved the cast and characters – Toni Collette has always been a favourite of mine, and Daniel Craig did a surprisingly good job of being an investigator from the deep south! The mansion itself seems to be a character on its own too – the aesthetic is spectacular.
Overall, it’s a good popcorn movie that you don’t have to think about too much. Every scene has been carefully choreographed, with a huge attention to detail.
Director: Kenneth Branagh Writer: Based on Agatha Christie’s novel. Screenplay by Michael Green Released: November 2017 Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer and Daisy Ridley
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‘Um. No.’ – My review in brief of both the film and book.
I read the book then immediately watched the film, but ultimately they were both disappointing. (The film, more so.)
I am a huge Agatha Christie fan and have read a fair few of her books, but despite its fame, Murder on the Orient Express is by far the biggest disappointment – mostly due to the ending.
CHARACTERS
Basically, in regards to the film, there are far too many characters to keep track of and far too many details to ponder for it to be an enjoyable murder mystery film. Whereas in the book, it is an intriguing and baffling mystery – because you have time to think about everything and consider all the possibilities before the conclusion.
In addition to this, I’d like to add that there are many big names in this film, who seemed to have been cast despite their obvious lack of similarity to the characters in the book.
For example, Mrs Hubbard is described as a plump, humorous, brash, loud and excitable woman, but also motherly and thinks highly of her daughter. Quite clearly, I imagined Kathy Bates would play the role (with her performance of Molly Brown in Titanic in mind), who is the opposite of Michelle Pfeiffer who played Mrs Hubbard in the film as a flirtatious cougar:
Several characters that are included in the book are excluded in the film, or are merged into one character, which became somewhat confusing and disappointing. I was quite attached to the sobbing, ‘sheep-faced’ Greta Ohlsson, who was totally removed from the film.
“She’s like a sheep, you know. She gets anxious and bleats.”
The detective, Hercule Poirot, gets things wrong in the film and accuses people too early. He comes across as a bit of an amateur, which is absolutely not accurate. Totally unlike the calm, level-headed, particular Hercule Poirot who knows the answers long before he says so.
DIALOGUE
In the film, there is a few action scenes that echo Sherlock Holmes. I felt this was jarring and unnecessary (and are not in the book, I might add!).
I was disappointed by this tone of the film because I was expecting a The King’s Speech kind of feel. Where the dialogue becomes a character of its own, where it is so captivating that you find yourself totally lost in what the character is saying – looking for clues in the way they choose their words. Where the dialogue is isolated by extreme close-ups and static camerawork during dry, but captivating monologues.
It’s a shame really! I can see so clearly what I would change about this movie. There is so much important dialogue, but its treated as a nuisance that is rushed through and forgotten about and interjected with pointless action scenes.
ENDING
The ending was the biggest let-down – in terms of the book and film. Without giving it away completely, I will say that if ‘…and he woke up and it was all a dream‘ is the worst ending to a story ever, then the ending to Murder on the Orient Express is the second to worst ending ever. It was a massive deflation after a long, climactic, uphill hike.
In regards to the film, it was more than just the ending that was disappointing. It was the film in its entirety. Basically, there are around 15 main characters in this story, and all of them need to be given almost equal attention as they are all suspects and they all need to be interviewed.
So, as you can imagine, this means there is a lot of detail that needs to be told to the audience in a very short amount of time!
I don’t mean to do the cliche thing of saying ‘it was not as good as the book’, because although this is true, I think Murder on the Orient Express is a story that is simply unsuitable for the screen. It just doesn’t work – there’s too much information that needs to be conveyed.
Basically, if you haven’t read the book, you’re probably going to be quite lost in the film because they skim over the dialogue – which is all disguised in heavy accents anyway. So even if you do catch some important detail, you probably won’t be able to decipher the meaning of it anyway.
MY CONCLUSION
Overall, not Agatha Christie’s best ending, and not an enjoyable film. Too confusing and without the ‘gasps’ and intrigue of the book. Perhaps if Kenneth Branagh picked between playing the main character or the director, instead of doing both, then perhaps more time would have been spent on the script.
I know no one intends to make a bad film… But y’all made a bad film.
NZ Film Freak 